


Sunrise

by Adraowen



Series: Ariel dances to the beat of his own heart [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:29:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22078696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adraowen/pseuds/Adraowen
Summary: Claude is like a sunrise. Ariel hates sunrises. But there is always room to be wrong.
Relationships: Claude von Riegan/Original Male Character(s)
Series: Ariel dances to the beat of his own heart [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1588639
Kudos: 2





	Sunrise

Claude is like a sunrise.

Ariel _hates_ sunrises.

Bright and unrelenting, sunrises are a signal of yet another new day. They bring noise and bustling streets. Conniving men yelling across the market about sales and priceless wares. All lies and schemes. Ariel knows for a fact that the man with the uneven beard and dark eyes stole the linens he is proffering from an old woman in the poor district the night before.

Ariel knows because he was there to witness it. He even caught the man’s attention, but Ariel isn’t big and he isn’t even a little threatening. Any show of strength he may have had vanished when his stomach growled loudly. The man had laughed at him. Then he left. Ariel didn’t have the heart to tell the old woman what had happened, about how he had failed, so instead he gave her what little food he had collected and turned in for the night. If he spent all night curled up and clutching his aching belly, no one was the wiser.

Until he met Claude.

Claude is bright and unrelenting. He loves the sound of his own voice and scheming came second nature, a skill born out of necessity. Ariel quickly learned this after that first meeting. Nader insisted Ariel join him more often, and so Ariel and Claude became more than just momentary acquaintances. The more time Ariel spent with him, the brighter Claude’s smile seemed and the dimmer the Sun’s blinding rays became.

________

Ariel always hated sunrises, but maybe he could learn to like them just a little.

Claude took his hand and drug Ariel through the wealthy district. Eyes were on them every step of the way and Ariel could feel his palms sweating. He felt embarrassment crawl up his neck, but Claude just kept pushing on without a word. Ariel could see all of the judging looks sent at Claude, many more cruel than the ones aimed at himself. It struck him as odd, but then he didn’t really care what these people thought.

He holds tighter to Claude’s hand as they ascend staircase after staircase. It is still dark in the early morning. The air is damp from an early morning mist and there is a chill. Ariel had half a mind to complain, but then they burst through a hatch in the ceiling and climbed up. Claude pulled him to the edge of the roof and Ariel had no words that he felt could fill the moment.

The sky is a brilliant mix of pinks and oranges. Birds are just beginning to wake and they take to the sky in waves. Ariel feels a hitch in his breath and he steps forward. His hands cling to the cool brick of the roof’s edge and he curses his emotions as he feels his eyes prickle with tears.

He has never seen a sunrise like this before.

“Told you it would be worth it.”

Ariel turns to look at Claude and his friend is beaming with joy. He thinks that no sunrise could match anything as beautiful as that.

________

Ariel doesn’t mind waking up to meet the sunrise.

It’s been almost a year since he has been in Almyra. He misses the vibrant sunrises his home used to greet him with, but he can’t complain about what Fodlan has to offer. 

Early mornings are more purple in color here. Everything feels cooler and the world around him lacks a certain warmth. He wishes Claude could join him, but Claude has duties.

He and Claude exist in two separate worlds now.

True, Claude had brought Ariel with him to Fodlan as an advisor, but Ariel had no business taking up such a position. Nader was more suited. That in itself was a stretch though. Neither were very good at dealing with Fodlan politics and the Alliance was far too dramatic of a political game for Ariel’s liking.

Sure, he actually enjoyed playing the game, but even he had his limits.

Claude would laugh at him if Ariel ever admitted to that. Nader certainly did.

“Do you miss being there?”

Ariel’s fingers tightened around his family’s sash, of which he had been attempting to repair, and he gave Claude a curious look. Claude paid him no mind. He simply walked to the edge of the balcony and took in a deep breath of fresh Fodlan air. Ariel’s lips pressed into a thin line as his eyes wandered across Claude’s form. He looked stiff. He looked tired.

Ariel smiled for Claude’s sake and looked to the colorful morning sky once more.

“Here isn’t so bad.” He pursed his lips and took in a nervous breath. Claude always managed to get him this way. “Here has you. Can’t complain about that.”

Claude didn’t say anything, but he did relax. Ariel considered that a win.

________

The sunrise is all Ariel had left.

He woke up in pain. For the past several weeks, every morning had been spent in pain. His ribs had just begun to properly heal. He imagined he wouldn’t find comfort for some time.

Edelgard had visited sparingly during those first weeks. He had no real qualms with her, though Ariel was never one to shelter others from his opinion. She had, after all, had a hand in taking away the only family he had managed to build since Almyra. He had been angry and regretful. He had shouted at her and he had been certain there would be consequences.

Instead she just took it all with a grace he wished he could mimic. She was beauty and strength and he was a broken child. The differences between them were vast and that thought alone made Ariel feel the same kind of small that he had felt as a boy.

She had been too kind, perhaps. He was given a room. It wasn’t extravagant compared to other quarters, of that he was certain, but it was one of the nicest rooms he had ever had. He was still a captive though. He wouldn’t forget that. They wouldn’t tell him much. When he asked about Claude, Edelgard looked at him with a sad kind of understanding that set a chill in his bones. He didn’t ask much after that.

Edelgard didn’t need to answer. Hubert didn’t need to answer. Claude was alive. Ariel would never accept anything less than that.

________

Sunrises were moments of peace that Ariel clung to.

He had managed a bit of luck and eventually escaped from the Empire. The smallest bit of freedom they had provided him gave him all the motivation he needed to leave. Under his breath he wished Edelgard the best as he slipped out of his prison. He held no ill will toward her, but he needed freedom.

He didn’t know Fodlan. Maps had never been a priority for studying and he greatly regretted that personal choice now that all he could do was wander aimlessly. His only hope was that eventually he would be able to meet up with someone he knew. He couldn’t take the judgmental looks of the people around him anymore.

It was another year before he gave in and settled in the first open minded village he could find. Eventually news would find him first. It had to.

Years later he hadn’t planned on the village being ransacked by bandits. He hadn’t planned on being taken captive once again, this time for entertainment. He hadn’t planned on any of the suffering that followed.

He supposed that his luck eventually had to run out.

Ariel certainly hadn’t planned on being freed one day by a cheerful girl with pink hair like the sunrises back home. She let him fall into her arms with only minor complaint and Ariel swears he heard his name clumsily slip from the lips of someone that sounded vaguely like Claude before the world went black.

________

Fodlan sunrises are more beautiful when shared with others.

Ariel was alone on the bridge of the monastery at first.

Until he wasn’t. 

Ignatz joined him first. Then Leonie. Lorenz, Lysithea, and Raphael. Hilda and Marianne. Even Sylvain. One by one the class joined him as a multitude of colors painted the morning sky. The monastery was quiet. It was peaceful. There was no knowing if it would still be this way in the morning. Everything was coming to a head.

Lysithea complained about the cold and tucked herself against Ariel’s side, citing his body’s natural tendency to stay heated even in cooler temperatures. He didn’t mind. Sylvain was on his other side and Ariel welcomed his steady support. Lorenz tried to give a speech to keep up moral. It was a valiant effort, though quickly fell short when faced with Raphael’s praises about endless victory breakfast buffets. He had enough confidence for all of them. Though even he must have felt the tension and anxiety in the air because he fell silent along with the others as the sun continued to rise.

One by one they all left to get an early start on what was bound to be a busy day of preparing for battle. Soon it was just Ariel and he knew he had a schedule to stick to as well. 

“You know… They weren’t as pretty when you weren’t here to watch them with me.”

Ariel’s fingers curled inward, knuckles scraping against the brick below and nails digging into his palms. Claude’s gloved hand brushed against his skin and he froze. Ariel hadn’t expected to see Claude here. He had a battle to plan for.

But then he was here, so maybe Ariel was meant to take his presence as the blessing it could be.

He could feel Claude watching him and turned to greet his smiling expression with one of his own. He uncurled his fingers and let them lightly brush against Claude’s own before he turned away and looked up at the sunrise before it escaped them.

Ariel didn’t know what to say to Claude. He didn’t have any profound words of wisdom or battle tips. He wasn’t meant for any of that. He kept everyone going on the field, sure, but that was then and Claude wasn’t everyone. He never felt that he was the one to keep Claude going. In fact it was the opposite, but that was a secret Ariel had never divulged.

Maybe now was a good time.

“I never really saw the sunrise all those years. When I looked up there, all I saw was you.”

When he looked over again, Claude wasn’t looking at him. He was looking up at the sky, but the smile on his face was just as beautiful as that first sunrise all those years ago.

Ariel loves sunrises.


End file.
